Towards New Frontiers

China index MA JIANBING/VCG VIA GETTYMA JIANBING/VCG IMAGES At the landing site of the Chang’e-5 probe, researchers examine a capsule carrying lunar soil and rocks. Towards new frontiers

China sets lofty goals for itself as it vies for global leadership in highly competitive scientific fields.

hina’s space-faring and particle- in part due to its long-time focus on master- Moon blocks all radio signals, thwarting com- wrangling researchers are reaping the ing the technological aspects of spaceflight. munications between spacecraft and Earth. rewards of heavy investment, as the In 2018, when China embarked on the fourth “We had to launch a relay satellite to keep the nation makes big moves in a global of its series of lunar missions, Chang’e-4, it had connection,” he says. race. In the emerging and hotly pur- already launched hundreds of satellites, two Data from the mission’s rover, Yutu-2, pro- Csued area of nanocatalysis, China’s scientists orbiting space laboratories and several crewed vided the first observations of the chemical are forging ahead. flights, but had yet to make its mark in a field composition below the surface of the Von historically dominated by the United States Kármán impact crater in the South Pole-Aitken and Russia. basin. Measuring 2,500 kilometres in diameter Bursting forth in the space race This mission, however, achieved something (about half the width of China) and extending that no other space-faring nation had done down more than 8 kilometres, the basin is the China has been playing catch-up in space before: it successfully landed a spacecraft on Moon’s largest, deepest and oldest feature, for years, but one step at a time, it’s making the far the side of Moon, so-called because it’s and is thought to be the result of an ancient strides, says Sun Kwok, an astronomer at the perpetually hidden from Earth’s view. Access- impact. Some of the earliest observations from University of British Columbia in Canada. “The ing the lunar farside is so difficult, says Li Chun- Yutu-2 were described by Li and his colleagues degree of progress is just incredible.” lai, deputy director-general of the National in Nature in 2019, one of dozens of papers to Until recently, China’s scientific success in Astronomical Observatories of Chinese which Li has contributed on China’s lunar mis- space has been “relatively modest”, says Kwok, Academy of Sciences in Beijing, because the sions since the launch of Chang’e-1 in 2007

(C. Li et al. Nature 569, 378–382; 2019). “The to those of the United States, she says. “China described how their highly active ‘nano- past years have witnessed great advancement has become extremely ambitious when it netcage’ catalyst, which takes on a hollow, in the development of Chinese astronomy,” comes to space.” Kevin Schoenmakers three-dimensional cube-shaped structure, can says Li. be scaled down to just 0.1 nanometres wide, China’s space programme continues to gain roughly the size of a single atom. This allows for momentum. In December 2020, Chang’e-5 Nanocatalysis research speeds up more catalysts to be used in a chemical reaction returned to Earth with the first lunar samples to further speed up the process (Z. Zhuang et collected in more than four decades. And ear- Nanocatalysis, which uses ultrafine nano al. Nature Commun. 10, 4875; 2019). Li’s and lier this month, China successfully landed the particles to increase the rate of a chemical Chen’s teams are now exploring the potential rover Zhurong on Mars as part of its Tianwen-1 reaction, has become one of the most active of using nano-netcages in processes that con- mission, which aims to provide new informa- areas of research in China. Made from metals vert solar and wind power into hydrogen gas, tion on the atmosphere, surface and subsur- such as gold, as well as oxides, carbon and a near-zero-emissions energy source. face of the red planet to help scientists piece various compounds, nanocatalysts have the China’s strength in chemistry, which makes together its climate and geological history. potential to drive major advances in renewa- up more than half of the county’s total Share Such a commitment to research is encourag- ble energy technologies, biofuels, water puri- in the Nature Index, has given it a significant ing to the international scientific community, fication and chemical production. Over the advantage in the pursuit of nanocatalysis says Kwok, especially now that China is tak- past two decades, nanocatalysts have been and other nanotechnologies, a field that has ing steps towards opening its space facilities the focus of an escalating number of scientific grown rapidly in recent years. The number of to foreign academics. In March 2021, China papers, particularly in China. nanoscience-related articles published glob- announced that its Five-hundred-meter Aper- “When nanocatalysis research arose interna- ally increased from less than 1,500 in 1990 to ture Spherical Radio Telescope, the world’s tionally, Chinese scientists had already devel- more than 205,000 in 2018, according to a largest single-dish radio observatory, can be oped excellent skills in nanomaterial synthesis,” 2019 joint paper by Nature’s publisher Springer accessed by astronomers from outside China says Li Yadong, a nanoscientist at Tsinghua Uni- Nature and the Chinese Academy of Sciences — a welcome development, as the world’s versity in Beijing. “It was natural for many of us (CAS), which drew data from the Nature Index second-largest such installation, the Arecibo to march into this promising field.” and Dimensions, Digital Science’s database Observatory in Puerto Rico, irreparably col- Li and his colleague, Chen Chen, also from of publications, grants and clinical trials. In lapsed three months earlier. Tsinghua University, have developed sev- 2011, China surpassed the United States as the China also plans to open its new space sta- eral new nanocatalyst designs. In 2019, they global leader in nanoscience publishing over- tion, the first module of which was launched all, and in 2018, overtook the United States for in April, to international research projects. If nano-related research in the 82 high-quality completed by the end of 2022 as scheduled, it journals tracked by the Nature Index. and the International Space Station will be the In research articles published between only fully operational space stations in orbit. 2010 and 2018, when global nanotechnology The space station, which has been designed research took off, nanocatalysis was the sec- to accommodate three astronauts for up to ond-largest application area discussed, the six months at a time, signifies China’s desire report states, after electronics (see go.nature. not just to visit space, but also to facilitate com/2Q5XpIT; Nature is editorially independ- long-term missions there. Its upcoming ent of its publisher). Chang’e missions 6 through to 8 aim to lay the Given the potential for nanocatalysts to groundwork for a base on the Moon’s south significantly speed up some manufacturing pole — potentially constructed in cooperation processes, China’s industrial sector has great with Russia — that would provide housing for interest in supporting new discoveries. Bao astronauts and act as a deployment site for Xinhe, president of the University of Science deeper space exploration. NASA has similarly and Technology of China (USTC) in Hefei, proposed building a lunar research station, runs the State Key Lab of Catalysis at the CAS called the Artemis Base Camp, although nei- Dalian Institute of Chemical Physics in Dalian, ther plan has a clear timeline. China’s northernmost port city. His team has The national security and economic advan- developed nanocatalysts that can convert tages of a fast-paced expansion into space methane to ethylene, which forms the basis are front of mind, says Namrata Goswami, an of many plastics, at room temperature — a independent scholar on space policy based in major step towards making the process more Montgomery, Alabama, as China places key cost-effective. communications satellites into Earth’s orbit. Each year, scientists working on nanocataly- Last year, it launched the final satellite of the sis feature prominently among the 300 Distin- Beidou navigation network — its equivalent guished Young Scholar recipients who receive of the US’s Global Positioning System — and a grant of between 2 million and 4 million yuan what it claims is the world’s first 6G satellite. (US$308,947–617,894) from the National Nat- China’s goals in space are lofty, but not ural Science Foundation of China. Access to

unrealistic, says Goswami. If its Mars mission End stages in the formation of a ‘nano- funding and advanced facilities incentivize WANG Z ZHUANG,Y is successful, it will have proved that its capa- netcage’ catalyst. China’s rising stars in nanocatalysis to con- bilities have surpassed Russia’s as second only tinue their research at home after spending

China index

C time abroad, says Li Yanguang, a nanoscien- A comparison of Share for China and the United States in 10 fields of research (FoRs) selected from the top 10 tist at Soochow University in Suzhou. “Many FoRs by Share in each country. Chinese scientists became pioneers of nano- China United States Combined total catalysis overseas before returning to China.” Li Yanguang spent eight years in the United States working on nanomaterials synthesis dur- FoR rank in China 1 Physical chemistry ing his doctoral studies at Ohio State University FoR rank in US 3 in Columbus before focusing on nanocatalysis as a postdoctoral researcher at Stanford Uni- Biochemistry and 7 versity in California. He returned to China in cell biology 1 2013, and is now among the most highly cited chemists in the world, having earned more than 30,000 citations to his papers by 2019, accord- 10 Genetics ing to Philadelphia-based information-services 2 firm, Clarivate Analytics. As an emerging area of research, nanocatal-

Materials 2 ysis offers scientists an opportunity to make engineering 5 their mark early, says Li Yanguang. But some researchers are concerned that the dispro- portionate attention and resources spent on 20 Neurosciences nanocatalysis research could hold back pro- 4 gress in other areas of chemistry in China. “Some classic questions in chemistry, such as

Organic 3 the mechanisms underlying the synthesis of chemistry 15 certain basic chemicals, are being neglected,” says Zhao Dongbing, professor of chemistry at Nankai University in Tianjin. “Studying 5 Macromolecular and these takes years, and we risk falling behind.” materials chemistry 13 Hepeng Jia

Atomic, molecular, 9 nuclear, particle and Weaving an entangled web plasma physics 7

Since China launched the world’s first quan- 21 Immunology tum-enabled satellite, Micius, in 2016, the 6 nation has sought to position itself as a leader in quantum research, a field that aims to har- 11 ness the peculiar and particular properties Geology of matter at the atomic level. The satellite, 9 operated by a team led by Jian-Wei Pan, pro- 0 1,000 2,000 3,000 4,000 5,000 6,000 fessor of physics at USTC, made quantum key

Share 2020 distribution possible over long distances for INDEX NATURE SOURCE: the first time — technology that could lead to C unhackable global communications. China’s Share in 2020 is more focused on chemistry, while the life sciences dominate the US eort. Quantum-secure communication uses

Chemistry Life sciences Physical sciences Earth and environmental sciences quantum-entangled particles, a group of particles that cannot be described independently China 10,000 United 10,000 States of each other in terms of certain physical and behavioural properties, and that act as a system, even when physically far apart. In 2017,

7,648.64 9,672.35 Micius enabled quantum-entangled particles 5,222.70 to be delivered as encryption keys to research- 1,882.84 ers in ground stations near Vienna and Beijing, some 7,400 kilometres apart. The event played 10,000 10,000 10,000 10,000 out as the world’s first quantum-encrypted 1,937.32 2,861.51 teleconference. 4,268.99 5,402.66 Micius has helped put China, a relative late- comer to the burgeoning field, on the quantum science map. In June 2020, Pan and his team

published a paper in Nature describing an INDEX NATURE SOURCE: 10,000 10,000 experiment that further tightened the security

XINHUA/ALAMY Jian-Wei Pan in a lab at the University of Science and Technology of China in Hefei.

of the communications over a distance of more United States is the clear leader in quantum binary 1s and 0s, to complete. China’s quantum than 1,120 kilometres (J. Yin et al. Nature 582, computing, the most high-profile segment of computer, Jiuzhang, performed a calculation 501–505; 2020). Nations such as the United the field. Although China had nearly twice the in 200 seconds that would take a supercom- States, the United Kingdom, Japan and India number of patent filings as the United States puter 2.5 billion years to complete (H.-S. Zhong are racing to develop comparable technolo- for quantum technology overall in 2018 — et al. Science 370, 1460—1463; 2020). It was gies. including communications and cryptology a direct challenge to researchers at Google’s With the potential to impart major military devices — the United States has a significant quantum-computing laboratory in Santa and economic advantages, quantum science lead in patents related to quantum computing, Barbara, California, who had made a similar has become a multibillion-dollar race, and according to a Washington Post report based claim a year earlier using their Sycamore quan- China and the United States are the lead com- on data from market research firm Patinfor- tum system. petitors. It’s a key area of focus in China’s latest matics (see go.nature.com/3b8mrte). The USTC and Google quantum systems five-year plan, a social and economic blueprint have limitations. Critics say it’s unclear approved in March 2021. Pan, who is often “Quantum computing will whether the problem Sycamore solved was referred to in Chinese media as ‘the father of truly beyond the capabilities of a conventional quantum’, is encouraged to see support for first emerge as a useful machine, whereas Jiuzhang is not easily repro- the field at a national level. “We hope that … in tool, like lasers, for grammable to solve more than one problem, the next five years we can make major break- scientists, over the next an issue Lu says they’re working to address. throughs in the fields of large-scale quantum five years or so.” “We hope to upgrade our experiment to be communication, scalable quantum computing fully reconfigurable by the end of this year.” and simulation, and quantum metrology [the Lu says people often have “unrealistic” use of quantum techniques in high-precision But China’s efforts in quantum computing expectations that quantum computing will measurement],” he says. are quickly gaining momentum. In Decem- drive an imminent overhaul of all aspects of The United States also asserted its commit- ber 2020, a team led by Pan and his colleague computing. They should instead consider ment to quantum research in March, empha- Chao-Yang Lu, also a professor of physics at whether or not it is a good investment, he says. sizing in an official statement on national USTC, claimed to be the first in the world to “My best guess is that quantum com- security the need to “reinvest in retaining our reliably demonstrate a quantum advantage puting will first emerge as a useful tool, scientific and technological edge and once over classical computing. A quantum advan- like lasers, for scientists, over the next five again lead” in emerging technologies such as tage is achieved by performing a calculation on years or so,” says Lu. “Then it might find artificial intelligence and quantum computing. a quantum system, which uses quantum bits as some small-scale applications in com- With significant investment from tech giants the information carrier, that would be impos- mercial use in the following ten years.” including IBM, Google and Microsoft, the sible for a classical supercomputer, which uses Sian Powell